Online Newsletter

Excerpted from our print newsletter. See the printed newsletter for detailed
Field Trip directions and reports, for phone and addresses for yard visits and
additional articles. Join now to obtain
the benefits of full membership!

UPCOMING MEETING IN DADE COUNTY

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson will speak about a
variety of environmental issues faced by the commission. Thanks in advance
to refreshment donors: Karsten Rist (drinks and ice); and Toby Davidow,
Allyn Golub, Steve Levine (snacks). Additions to the refreshment or plant
raffle table are appreciated!

Upcoming meetings:

February 26: Joyce and Don Gann will talk about various aspects
of native plants and their culture useful to the home gardener.

March 26: Dr. Evelyn Gaiser of Florida International University
will speak about periphyton in the Everglades.

UPCOMING FIELD TRIPS (DADE)

Field trips are for the study of plants and enjoyment of nature by
FNPS members (Dade and Keys) and their invited guests. Collecting is not
permitted. Please join today so
that you can enjoy all the benefits of membership!

Saturday, January 26: Janes Grade, Big Cypress Seminole Reservation.
We will walk through pine flatwoods, wet prairie, cypress and perhaps hammock
habitats. The area abuts the Big Cypress Expansion area. While much of the
reservation is heavily used as cattle pasture, farming and housing, this
area is natural except for the regional drainage controlled by the SFWMD.
Bill Dunson, a water resources manager for the Seminole Tribe, has graciously
invited us to visit.

Sunday, February 24: Snake Bight Trail and the Flamingo area, Everglades
National Park. Last winter we walked the Coastal Prairie Trail, and
this year we will cover some of the other interesting trails in the area
and check out the stunning improvement from Brazilian pepper removal in
the Flamingo area.

ACTIVITIES IN THE KEYS

Note: All Dade Chapter members are welcome at all chapter
activities. For more information about those planned by the Keys Activities
Committee, please call Jim Duquesnel at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State
Park, 305-451-1202, or Lisa Gordon (email ledzep@keysconnection.com).

Saturday, January 12: Field trip to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State
Park. Meet at the Visitor Center at 9 AM. The entrance fee will be waived,
but donations are appreciated. Jim Duquesnel will lead this easy
hammock walk and botanizing around the historic Shaw lime grove.

February (date TBA, 19th or earlier): Monthly meeting at
the Islamorada Library. Janice Duquesnel will present "Saving the Mahogany
Mistletoe and Other Keys Rarities". Please contact Jim or Lisa for more
information.

NATIVE PLANT DAY, MARCH 9

Mark
your calendars now to volunteer for, attend,
or send your neighbors to Native Plant Day on March 9, from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m.. This is our chapters annual public event where plant enthusiasts
can learn about natives for their own gardens and in natural areas, while
enjoying a day in the park -- for free. The event is will again be at Castellow
Hammock Park, 22301 SW 162 Avenue, and is cosponsored by Miami-Dade
Park and Recreation Department. Please start spreading the word to your
workplace and neighborhood. More information will soon be available on our
web site A flier will also be enclosed in the February Tillandsia.

Topics of programs and displays include attracting birds and butterflies
with native plants; how to plant and maintain natives; planting a hammock;
native palms, trees, shrubs and wildflowers; wildflower gardening; plant
identification; Dade's natural areas; invasive exotic plants; use of natives
by indigenous people; native ferns; and more. There will also be children's
nature activities; walking tours of the hammock and butterfly garden (also
in Spanish); birding walks; bicycle tours of the historic Redland (fee required);
demonstrations of WEB resources; native plant vendors; a members "flea
market" with books, artwork, and gardening items; and raffles.

CHAPTER WORKDAYS

Saturday, February 2, 9:00: In preparation for Native Plant Day,
the chapter will assist Roger Hammer in planting a butterfly and hummingbird
garden (of mostly native plants) at Castellow Hammock (22301 SW 162 Avenue).
Much of the work will be fairly easy  planting, mulching, watering
(a bit harder if you dig holes), but we need plenty of help. Roger needs
donations of native shrubs and herbaceous plants for this garden.
If you would like a species list, have plants to donate or can help with
the planting, please call Patty (305-255-6404). Call Roger (305-242-7688)
with plant questions.

Saturday, February 9, 9:00-noon:Everglades National Park
Visitors Center landscaping project, TENTATIVE DATE (please reconfirm).
Please contact Carrie (305-661-9023) or Patty (305-255-6404, if you
can come. We will plant a few things in the pinelands, do some quick weeding,
and start preparing the area to plant new hammock trees and shrubs in the
spring. Bring shovels, digging tools, pruning tools, gloves, sun protection.
Snacks provided.

If you havent seen the project lately, youll be pleased with
how great an improvement YOU have made to a National Park in one year. Carrie
reports that after the last workday on December 8, several chapter members
encountered a group from a native wildflower group in Palm Beach County
who were planting royal palms at the Royal Palm visitor center. They had
grown the palms from seed over the last five years. They were full of compliments
about our work  and we now return the praise.

OTHER EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Broward Chapter FNPS meetings: 2nd Tuesdays at Secret
Woods Nature Center, 2701 W State Road 84, just west of I-95. Social time
7PM, program at 7:30PM. Call Ann, 954-523-0288.

Tropical Audubon Society. Doc Thomas House, 5530 Sunset Dr. 305-666-5111.
January 15 meeting: Jerry Lorenz, a biologist at the Audubon office
in Tavernier will discuss the roseate spoonbills of Florida Bay. Program
at 8 pm, social at 7:30. Free and open to the public. Sunday, Jan. 20,
Feb. 17, 9 a.m. to noon - Tour the Botanical Garden at the Tropical Audubon
Society. David Lysinger, native plant expert and Botanical Garden architect,
will lead a FREE tour from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Learn about our botanical
heritage and visit the historic garden. Call 305 666-8074 for more information.
[www.tropicalaudubon.org]

Miami-Dade Parks Natural Areas Management workdays, 9AM-noon. Call
305-257-0904. Jan. 26, Feb. 2, Feb. 9, Mar. 2  Kendall Indian Hammock
Park (11345 SW 79 St.  you can get there from SW 107 or 117 Ave.,
north of Kendall ). See article on SPUDBUSTERS in a future issue with the
story on efforts to eradicate the air potato at this park (the object of
these workdays).

NECKLACE POD, Sophora tomentosa L.

by Roger Hammer

Are you looking for a butterfly- and hummingbird-attracting native shrub
that is drought-tolerant, salt-tolerant, sun-loving, and trouble-free? Well,
I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Necklace Pod,
Sophora tomentosa, fills the bill for all of the above requirements.
It is an exceptional hummingbird attractor, and these small feathered jewels
will aggressively defend their territory around a flowering Necklace Pod.
Not only that, they often perch on the flowering stems in between feeding
on nectar from the flowers or chasing away other hummingbirds. Butterflies
also visit the flowers for nectar, especially skippers.

The bad news is that if you already have this colorful shrub in
your home landscape, or if you plan on rushing out to your nearest native
plant nursery to buy one, your chances of having or obtaining the Florida
native variety of this widespread species are pretty remote. Botanists Keith
Bradley and George Gann have studied the scientific literature and determined
that the hairy plant in cultivation is the variety occidentalis,
native to the West Indies.

The leaves, especially the new growth, of occidentalis are covered
with soft, silvery hairs that give the leaves an overall fuzzy appearance.
The native variety, var. truncata, is nearly glabrous and seldom
seen in cultivation. To add to the bad news, Keith informed me that he has
found the exotic variety escaping cultivation. The jury is still out whether
or not the two varieties can hybridize and produce intermediate forms.

You can see both varieties on Key Biscayne in Crandon Park. The exotic
variety has been planted around the Biscayne Nature Center and along the
Hammock Trail to the north of the center. If you walk north along the trail
that parallels the dunes (east of the Hammock Trail) you will eventually
encounter a small foot trail leading to the beach. Along this trail is a
fine specimen of the native variety and there are others growing naturally
on the north end of the park as well.

Now I must admit to adding to the menagerie. A couple of years ago my wife,
Lisa, went on an excursion to Polynesia. While on the small island of Rarotonga,
she collected a few seeds of Sophora tomentosa that she described
as "a Necklace Pod on steroids". I planted two of them in my yard and, indeed,
they are much larger overall. The flowers are dark yellow and twice the
size of what I am used to seeing on Florida plants. I gave the third specimen
to Keith Bradley, who has it growing in his yard. We have yet to determine
which variety it represents.

The yellow, pealike flowers of Necklace Pod are on long, terminal stems
and are produced mostly in the fall but may appear off and on all year.
Typically the plant has multiple stems arising from the roots and will reach
about 6 feet tall. It thrives on neglect and will tolerate salty ocean spray,
so it is a good choice for coastal plantings. A word of caution is necessary
because the small seeds, which are poisonous to eat, are produced in pendent
pods that constrict around each seed, giving the appearance of a necklace.
This caution is offered to those of you who have small children and are
concerned about plants with poisonous properties. The spent flowering spikes
can be pruned off to avoid fruit set if this is a concern.

So, anyway, theres the good and bad news about this very ornamental
species. Perhaps some enterprising native plant nurseryperson will begin
propagating the Florida native variety so it can be represented in native
plantings, both public and private.

The Dade Chapter Florida Native Plant Society is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
dedicated to the understanding and preservation of Florida's native flora
and natural areas, and promoting native plants in landscapes.

The chapter includes residents of Miami-Dade County and the Keys. Meetings
in Miami-Dade County are on the 4th Tuesday of each month
except June, August and December at Fairchild Tropical Garden and are free
and open to the public. In June, members and their guests are invited to
an evening garden tour on the 4th Tuesday. Meetings in the
Keys are held on a varying schedule of dates and locations from Key
Largo to Key West. The basic FNPS membership (state and chapter) is $25
per year. Please contact DCFNPS for a membership application.

Please send articles, announcements of local activities and news
of interest to the Dade Chapter PO Box or email to the editor (above) by
the 15th of each month to be considered for publication the following
month. Advertising rates from $10/month.